The newest member of the Little, Brown family of handbooks, LB Brief offers a mid-sized, spiral-bound reference at an affordable price. Like its relatives, LB Brief provides students of varying skills and interests with clear, reliable, and accessible advice on the writing process, critical thinking and argument, writing with computers, grammar and usage, research writing, source documentation, and more. Nine sample student essays, hundreds of clear examples from across the curriculum, and exercises in connected discourse give students models to emulate and opportunities for practice. Unique reference aids—including frequently asked questions, "Key Terms" boxes, an accessible organization, and minimal terminology—help students find what they need and then use what they find.

Table of Contents:
I. WRITING PROCESS. 1. The Writing Situation. Analysis. Subject. Audience. Purpose. 2. Invention. Journal keeping. Observing. Freewriting. Brainstorming. Clustering. Asking questions. Reading. Thinking critically. 3. Thesis and Organization. Thesis statement. Organization. 4. Drafting. Starting. Maintaining momentum. Sample first draft. 5. Revising and Editing. Revising as a whole. Sample revision. Editing. Formatting; proofreading. Sample editing; final draft. Collaborating. Assembling a writing portfolio. 6. Paragraphs. Central idea; unity. Coherence. Development. Introductions and conclusions. Linking paragraphs. 7. Critical Thinking, Reading, and Writing. Critical thinking and reading. Critical writing. 8. Writing Arguments. Elements of argument. Writing reasonably. Organizing an argument. Sample argument. II. COMPUTERS IN WRITING. 9. Essential Computer Skills. Managing files. Spelling checkers and other tools. Electronic mail. The Web. 10. Document Design. Principles of design. Elements of design. Sample report and newsletter. 11. Web Composition. Online papers. Original sites. III. CLARITY AND STYLE. 12. Emphasis. Subjects and verbs. Order of information. Coordination. Subordination. 13. Parallelism. With and, but, or, nor, yet. With both...and, not...but, etc. In comparisons. With lists, headings, and outlines. 14. Variety and Details. Sentence length. Sentence structure. Details. 15. Appropriate and Exact Words. Appropriate words. Exact words. 16. Completeness. Compounds. Needed words. 17. Conciseness. Focusing on subject and verb. Cutting empty words. Cutting repetition. Tightening clauses and phrases. Cutting there is or it is. Combining sentences. Avoiding jargon. IV. SENTENCE PARTS AND PATTERNS. Basic Grammar. 18. Parts of Speech. Nouns. Pronouns. Verbs. Adjectives and adverbs. Prepositions and conjunctions. Interjections. 19. The Sentence. Subject and predicate. Predicate patterns. Alternates to subject-predicate order. 20. Phrases and Subordinate Clauses. Phrases. Subordinate clauses. 21. Sentence Types. Simple sentences. Compound sentences. Complex sentences. Compound-complex sentences. Verbs. 22. Forms. Sing/sang/sung and other irregular verbs. Sit/set; lie/lay; rise/raise. -s and -ed forms. Be, have, and other helping verbs. Verb + gerund or infinitive: stop eating vs. stop to eat ESL. Verb + particle: look up, look over, etc. ESL. 23. Tenses. Present tense: sing. Perfect tenses: have/had/will have sung. Progressive tenses: is/was/will be singing. Consistency. Sequence. 24. Mood. Subjunctive: I wish I were. Consistency. 25. Voice. Active vs. passive. Consistency. 26. Subject-Verb Agreement. -s and -es endings. Intervening words. Subjects with and. Subjects with or or nor. Everyone and other indefinite pronouns. Team and other collective nouns. Who, which, that. News and other singular nouns ending in -s. Inverted word order. Is, are, and other linking verbs. Titles, etc. Pronouns. 27. Case. She and I vs. her and me. It was she vs. It was her. Who vs. whom. Other constructions. 28. Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement. Antecedents with and. Antecedents with or or nor. Everyone, person, and other indefinite words. Team and other collective nouns. 29. Pronoun Reference. Clear reference. Close reference. Specific reference. Consistency. Modifiers. 30. Adjectives and Adverbs. Adjective vs. adverb. Adjective with linking verb: felt bad. Bigger, most talented, and other comparisons. Double negatives. Present and past participles: boring vs. bored/D ESL. A, an, the, and other determiners ESL. 31. Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers. Misplaced modifiers. Dangling modifiers. Sentence Faults. 32. Fragments. Tests. Revisions. Acceptable fragments. 33. Comma Splices and Fused Sentences. Main clauses without and, but, etc. Main clauses with however, for example, etc. 34. Mixed Sentences. Reason is because and other mixed meanings. Tangled grammar. Repeated subjects and other parts ESL. V. PUNCTUATION. 35. End Punctuation. Period. Question Mark. Exclamation point. 36. Comma. Main clauses with and, but, etc. Introductory elements. Nonessential elements. Items in a series. Two or more adjectives. Dates, etc. With quotations. Misuses. 37. Semicolon. Main clauses without and, but, etc. Main clauses with however, for example, etc. Main clauses or series items with commas. Misuses. 38. Colon. Concluding explanation, series, etc. Salutation, title and subtitle, etc. Misuses. 39. Apostrophe. Possessive case. Misuses. Contractions. Plurals of abbreviations, etc. 40. Quotation Marks. Direct quotations. Within quotations. Poetry and prose. Titles of works. Words used in a special sense. Misuses. With other punctuation. 41. Other Marks. Dash or dashes. Parentheses. Ellipsis mark. Brackets. Slash. VI. SPELLING AND MECHANICS. 42. Spelling. 43. Hyphen. 44. Capital Letters. 45. Underlining or Italics. 46. Abbreviations. 47. Numbers. VII. RESEARCH AND DOCUMENTATION. 48. Research Strategy. Planning. Research journal. Researchable topic and question. Goals for the search. Working bibliography. 49. Finding Sources. Keyword searches. Reference works. Books. Periodicals. The World Wide Web. Other online sources. Pamphlets and government publications. Primary research. 50. Working with Sources. Evaluating sources. Synthesizing sources. Taking notes (summary, paraphrase, quotation). Avoiding plagiarism. Integrating sources. Documenting sources. 51. Writing the Paper. Focusing; organizing. Drafting; revising; formatting. 52. MLA Documentation and Format. Indexes to models. Parenthetical text. List of works cited. Format of paper. Sample paper. 53. APA Documentation and Format. Indexes to models. Parenthetical text citations. List of resources. Format of paper. Sample paper. 54. Columbia Documentation for Online Sources. Indexes to models. Elements. Online sources for the humanities. Online sources for the sciences. VIII. SPECIAL WRITING SITUATIONS. 55. Reading and Writing About Literature. 56. Writing for Business. Glossary of Usage. Index.